Warnings: A couple uses of a very minor curse word, brief mention of sex but
no actual instances.

Spoilers: The Vampire Diary Books by L.J. Smith

Disclaimers: The character of Damon and other Vampire Diary characters
referred to (Katherine, Elena, Stefan) are the sole property of L.J. Smith
and no harm is intended in using them here.

Comments: The
characters written here, including Virtue, my own character creation, are NOT high
school students but young adults.

Surprises of the Heart

Virtue closed the door hard. Taking a deep breath to calm herself down,
she flicked the light switch and headed for the stereo. A moment later
the room was full of the sounds of Miles Davis and his trumpet. Sitting
down on the cream colored couch, Virtue sighed. She glanced around the room.

Black and white framed photographs
and a couple of brightly colored tapestries decorated the walls. Surfaces
held, among other things, books and small statues of mythical, religious,
and just plain interesting figures. A coffee cup on the table before the
couch was half full of cold coffee left over from that morning. Deciding
she needed some but feeling too lazy to start another pot, Virtue picked up the
cold coffee and headed for the microwave in the kitchen behind her. It was
sure to taste terrible but at the moment she didn’t care.

The kitchen and living room were separated by a counter.
Virtue, after turning on the microwave, observed that she had a number
of pots and pans she had to wash. Groaning frustration, she shook her head.
It wouldn’t be so bad if only she didn’t feel so terrible already.
All she wanted to do for the rest of tonight was to attempt to relax, and forget
about this latest dating disaster.

It
had started out decently enough. William had shown up on time, which is
more than she could say for most of her dates, had been reasonably attractive and
polite. She’d thought that maybe this time Sharon had picked a guy to
set her up with who might actually work out. How wrong she was!

Virtue took the coffee out of the microwave and
headed back to the living room as she admitted that William hadn’t been too
bad. It’s just that he was so . . . boring. A business major with no
artistic interests who seemed to worship his professors, he seemed to have no
opinions of his own. He was able to quote everyone but himself. Virtue
figured Sharon had thought him to be “safe.” Virtue shook her head.

Sharon didn’t understand. She
didn’t want “safe.” Virtue wanted to find someone
interesting.
Someone who could appreciate good literature and discuss foreign affairs.
Someone who realized that jazz music went beyond Kenny G and that art and creativity
were things to cherish. Okay. So he didn’t need to have all
of her interests. He could hate Billie Holiday and think that comic books
were more interesting than Shakespeare, as long as he was informed and confident
enough to back up those opinions. That’s all she wanted, a man who was
educated and had a mind of his own, who spoke his opinion whether or not people
always agreed with him. Was that so hard to find?

“It doesn’t matter what the Harvard scholars are saying.
History has proved, time and again, that’s a tactic that doesn’t work.
No Eric I really don’t give a damn if you agree with me. I’m getting
bored. I’ll talk to you later.” Or not, Damon thought as he headed
from the bar in the club, walking along the side of the dance floor, admiring
the girls in the room. That was the problem, Damon thought, boredom.
It’s why he’d left Fells Church to come here. Stefan and Elena were just
too predictable.

He’d thought at one
time that Elena was different, more like him. The girl had certainly proved
to have guts, but even that wasn’t enough. She and Stefan belonged
together. It’d taken him a little while to understand that, but he thought
he did now. And now he was bored again. A tall scantily clad brunette
smiled at him and Damon smiled lazily back. Even the women, he thought.
This woman would more than likely be just like the one the night before,
and the night before that. Wishing for one minute that he could find
someone more interesting, who could surprise him once in a while, he shrugged.
Maybe he’d just lived too long, seen too much. Hey, he thought to himself.
He didn’t need anyone, not really. His mind just went kind
of crazy on him sometimes. He headed toward the brunette. Time to stop
thinking so much.

Voices. Virtue
lifted her eyes from her book and waited, listening for a moment. The
voices didn’t fade so she set the book down and walked over to the window, which
she’d opened earlier, hoping for some breezes to alleviate the heat inside
of the apartment. She reached to shut the window, at the same time taking
in the sight of the couple outside that was making so much noise.

A tall thin brunette in clothing so small it looked
like she’d borrowed it from a five year old, and a man in a leather jacket
who could fit anyone’s definition of dark and handsome. Even though she
couldn’t make out his facial features, Virtue could tell he was extremely attractive.
The brunette was laughing as the man said something into her ear.
Virtue allowed herself a moment to appreciate the man’s appearance before
she closed the window and headed back toward the couch and her book.

This is too easy, Damon thought as he followed
the brunette (Lisa) into her apartment. Where was the challenge, he wondered
as he closed the door behind him. Then Lisa reached for him and Damon
decided to concentrate his attention elsewhere.

“Hey!” Virtue bent down to retrieve her mail, not bothering
to glance at the person who’d bumped into her, causing the envelopes to fall.
When they were back in her hands, Virtue finally looked up at the person who
hadn’t yet moved. Her eyes widened for a moment. It was the man
from last night. Even though she hadn’t seen his face the night before, she’d
taken plenty of time to study the rest of him and this was definitely the
guy. A blush crept into her cheeks. There was a pause.

“Well?”

“Well what?” she asked. The man looked at her. His gaze was intense.
She glanced at her hands for a moment, slightly unnerved.

“Aren’t you going to apologize?”

“Apologize?” Virtue finally stood up. “For what?”

“I don’t know.” He placed his finger
to his temple, as if he were thinking, brought it away. “Maybe for running
into me.”

“Running into you?” Virtue
stared at him.

“Yes.” He nodded.
“Running into me.”

“But you ran into me!”

“Excuse me girl, but I never run into anyone,
that is, unless it’s intentional.”

“So
it must have been intentional.” Virtue was getting annoyed. The
man studied her for a moment. Then, ignoring her comment altogether said

“If you would like to make it up to me, I would
be willing to accept dinner tonight.”

“Make it up to you!” Virtue was indignant. “I’m not the one who has
making up to do. I was just minding my own damn business.” Then she
swallowed. Wait a minute. Had he said dinner? Was he asking
her out?

“Actually I was insinuating that
you should ask me out.” Virtue stared. She hadn’t spoken aloud.
Had she?

“I . . . uh. . .”

“It’s not hard.” He told her. “You just
open your mouth and say “Damon,” cause that’s my name, “Damon, would you like
to have dinner with me tonight?””

“Are you Italian?” She asked, suddenly realizing he had an accent.
Damon laughed.

“Not too good at staying on
the subject are we?”

“I resent that.”
Virtue told him.

“Fine. Then
why don’t you tell me what we were talking about?”

“You were telling me to ask you to have dinner with me tonight.”

“Dinner with you? Tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Sure.” He
told her. “I’ll have dinner with you.” He turned then, to head away,
"How about I show up here around eight?” Virtue was confused.

“Wait. But I didn’t. I mean I never. .
.”

“Do you have plans for eight tonight?”

“No.”

“Then
I’ll be here.” He headed away before she could reply. Virtue shook
her head, still trying to put things in order. Had she asked him out,
or had he invited himself? One thing was for sure. Dinner was going
to be interesting, and she wasn’t sure it was the kind of interesting she wanted.

So he had a date already set up
for tonight. Damon smiled. And she had actually been able to surprise
him for a moment there with her comebacks. Not that he expected it would
keep happening. It was kind of hard to surprise someone who’d been around
as long as he had. Still, she had been attractive, golden blond hair
and deep blue eyes. Her loose jeans and T-shirt hadn’t given him much of
a look at her body, but that only made him more determined to see her again.
It wasn’t until that moment that Damon realized he’d never asked her name,
nor had it occurred to him to search her mind for it. Well, he’d find out
that night. In the meantime, he needed to get to his apartment and get
some sleep.